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| Tackling Drugs in Scotland: Action in Partnership |
| chapter 8 | |
| DATs are the focal point of local action on DRUG misuse | |
| Delivering the strategy | |
| This chapter sets out the arrangements for binding together efforts nationally and locally in support of delivery of the strategy. | |
| What happens now? | |
| Strategic framework | |
| Planning and Provision of Drug Misuse Services, issued in November 1997, set out for the first time in Scotland a strategic framework for tackling drug misuse. It says what the Government wants to achieve in the form of national objectives. The document also introduced formal accountability arrangements. These have specific application to Health Boards through the Department of Health's performance management process, but with the expectation that other agencies would follow suit with similar approaches. This document draws together these arrangements with an enhanced strategic framework and refined national objectives. | " DATs have a critical role as
the focal point for local action on drug misuse. They
should lead and co-ordinate local action, drawing as
necessary on the advice received from local drugs fora,
and ensure delivery of drug treatment services in line
with their strategic plans and effective development of
drug prevention measures. " Planning and Provision of Drug Misuse Services, 1997 |
| DATs as the focal point | |
| With these arrangements DATs are the focal point for local action on drug misuse. The Government look to them to lead effective joint working between Health Boards, local authorities, and the many other key agencies planning and providing services aimed at drug misuse. Close working partnerships are the key. | |
| How is this partnership working? | |
| What the field says | |
| There are some good examples of partnership working. It is however clear overall that DATs and other agencies are not working together as effectively as they might. This is a key conclusion from the recent evaluation of Drug Action Teams. The DAT evaluation concluded that the main challenges to momentum in delivering results were related to securing commitment among the partner agencies and adequate resources. | |
| " DATs should move forward as
a matter of priority to fulfil the full expectations of
partnership working." 1998 Evaluation of Drug Action Teams in Scotland |
|
| The need for better local partnerships was also evident with calls for improved working arrangements. A common theme was the need to develop genuine partnerships to encourage agencies to work together. There was an acceptance that DATs and their constituent agencies needed to explore better ways of working in collaboration. But that Government had a significant influence with improved accountability arrangements in place. | |
| The DAT evaluation concluded that a key factor in encouraging partnership is a "framework of accountability in which DATs can be seen as responsible for achieving results". This section addresses these concerns by drawing together the elements of the strategy and setting out improved arrangements for ensuring that Government and agencies work together on a common agenda - and adjust direction as necessary as lessons are learned from applying the strategy. | |
| Measuring progress | |
| Objective assessment | |
| Objective and rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of implementation of the strategy is at the heart of its development. This will be done nationally and locally. That will therefore be the main focus in the accountability arrangements. A substantial component in the work is progress with Scotland's Objectives and corresponding performance measures. This work, led by ISD Scotland, as part of implementation of the Scottish Drug Misuse Information Strategy, will feed into the accountability regime. | |
| Action Priorities | |
| Of equal importance will be progress with the Action Priorities within the strategy. These represent a shared view at the centre and locally of the overriding national priorities where progress must be made and measured. | |
| Planning the work | |
| This work will need to be jointly planned by all the agencies working together in close partnership, with all possible sources of funding tapped and applied to deliver results in line with the strategy. | |
| How should DATs plan and deliver the work? | "...DATs work in an arena of
great public interest and concern. They need to provide
an account of their work to inform Ministers and those
responsible for the development of policy at national
level, and also the public, about what they are
achieving". 1998 Evaluation of Drug Action Teams in Scotland |
| Corporate Action Plans | |
| DATs will be expected to prepare Annual Corporate Action Plans. These should not replace strategic plans, which chart the direction of the work of the DAT over a longer time frame, normally 3-5 years ahead. Corporate Action Plans should be an integral part of the strategic plan, but at the same time be self-standing as they will be the main document regulating the handling of the annual round of exchanges between the centre and the DATs over progress with implementation of the strategy. They should be updated each year to take account of changing priorities with action requirements rolled forward as necessary. | |
| Corporate Action Plans will be a key document driving local action, but also the vital link to the national strategy. Care will be taken to ensure that the Plans are practical and sensible, minimising input and time at local level. The Plans will be the key mechanism for pulling local action in line with the national strategy. The Plans, which should fully reflect and dovetail with other local planning arrangements (eg community care plans) should be the basis for allocating resources locally in support of implementation of the strategy - including funds from Government and partnership money from individual agencies, business and the voluntary sector. Resource issues should be part of Annual Corporate Action Plans and the DATs Corporate Drugs Budget (see chapter 7) should be a feature of the Plan. | |
| Joint commissioning | |
| Each agency will need to cooperate fully in the preparation of these Plans, contributing not only ideas but resources so that the corporate objectives of the DAT can be implemented through genuine joint working. A key mechanism for bringing this about is joint commissioning. This was stressed in Planning and Provision of Drug Misuse Services which pointed to the key role of the DATs in initiating and leading the joint commissioning of services. | |
| Each DAT should be reviewing the current joint commissioning arrangements in place, considering their adequacy for delivery of the strategy and putting omissions right. The core partners of the DAT - Health Boards, local authorities (for social care, criminal justice social work, education and housing interests), police, prisons and the voluntary sector - should meet regularly to agree purchasing priorities in support of the strategy. It is then for consideration whether these priorities should be delivered by joint commissioning. The Government will review with the DAT Association the role and function of the DDOs in relation to joint commissioning as part of follow up work on the DAT evaluation. | |
| Integration with partner agencies | |
| The core partners should also discuss mechanisms for DAT influence on the plans of individual agencies, and the interaction between them and DAT Plans. There may be merit in seeking to integrate DAT Plans with plans being taken forward in partner organisations. | |
| Applying
the national objectives DATs and individual agencies should set local objectives drawn down from Scotland's Objectives. The setting of such local objectives should not be seen as simply imposing an administrative process. They should be regarded as a key planning tool for binding together the efforts of all the local agencies towards the necessary achievement of precise outcomes. Scotland's Objectives need to be applied differently at each level of implementation of the strategy, and sub divided as necessary, in accordance with the locally agreed objectives of DATs, and individual agencies. Objectives agreed locally by the agencies for the commissioning process may again be different. Similarly the local performance measures derived from the objectives will be different at each level of application. For example the top level objectives and performance measures set by a DAT will be different to those put in place at drug project or hospital by sub division of top level objectives. |
Measuring performance Performance against the strategy will be measured at five key levels:
The national objectives provide the link for the five levels, with the objectives rephrased as necessary at each level into local tasks. |
| Local performance measurement | |
| Objectives and performance measures at all levels should be refined and augmented as required to reflect improvements in information availability, local feedback, and developments both at Scotland and UK level. Most of the current performance measures in general use are process based, reflecting current availability of information, but there will be increasing emphasis on the development of output (effectiveness), cost (efficiency) and quality measures related to the aims of this strategy. Partnership working by the DATs and individual agencies in support of the continuing development of key performance measures is essential. Such objective assessment of progress in implementing the strategy will be very much part of the action around Corporate Action Plans and SACDM's advice on them. | The national objectives will inform
the setting of objectives and targets at the various
levels of implementation of the strategy. This will be
done by national and local objectives and targets being
set at each level with corresponding performance measures
for:
The resulting data should inform preparation of the DAT Corporate Action Plan. |
| Aiming for consistency | |
| Templates for Corporate Action Plans will be drawn up by the Government in consultation with DATs, to provide a common basis for measurement of performance across the country. Consistency in the way information is collected will allow comparisons between DATs and also help avoid unnecessary collection of information unrelated to implementation of the strategy. | |
| It is expected that the key elements in the Corporate Action Plan will be: | |
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| Tying plans into community and health planning | |
| Corporate Action Plans should tie in to the Community Planning initiative. There are a wide range of partners in the public sector and beyond, whose activities help combat the drugs problem. Voluntary bodies play a vital role. Community planning will help bring local authorities and other such bodies together, in partnership, to develop a plan which will set out a shared vision of the priorities facing their area, and the contribution each partner can make in attaining that vision. This is also a means of involving the general public in the consideration of DAT Corporate Action Plans. | " In order to strengthen the
current effectiveness of local Drug Action Teams there
needs to be an adequate co-ordination framework, which
supports the development, monitoring and accountability
of DATs. This will need to include clear reporting
arrangements of DATs into the national framework." COSLA report on drug misuse in Scotland, 1999 |
| Corporate Action Plans should also be linked to the Health Improvement Plans drawn up by Health Boards in consultation with local partners. | |
| Annual planning | |
| Annual Drug Misuse Planning Cycle | |
| These arrangements will be driven forward through the Annual Drug Misuse Planning Cycle. This will be geared to tracking progress, measuring its extent, identifying where resources can best be deployed and spotting gaps in policy and practice. Its main virtue will lie in providing a structured basis for planning and monitoring, with fixed time slots within which all agencies -not least Government departments and national agencies in Scotland - can structure their own planning cycles consistent with the demands of the strategy. | |
| Annual Drug Misuse Review | |
| The Planning Cycle will be built around the Annual Drug Misuse Review prepared for the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse. This will contain a proposed National Action Plan for the following financial year for approval by Ministers. The content of the Review will be consistent with the template for the DAT Annual Corporate Action Plans and include an overall assessment of current progress against the strategy. | |
| The DAT Corporate Action Plans will require to be submitted on an annual basis. They will then be fed into the Annual Review. Following consideration of the Annual Review and National Action Plan, the Plan will be published with agreed Action Priorities for the following year and a summary of the drug specific resources available for continued implementation of the strategy. | |
| For most DATs the main focus of SACDM's interest each year will be overall progress. However the Corporate Plans of each DAT will be subject to detailed consideration over a scrutiny programme completed in full over a three year period. | |
| The results of SACDM's consideration of Corporate Action Plans and of scrutinies will be fed back to Chief Officers of the key agencies. Periodically there will be consultations with the drugs field and the general public on the impact of the strategy. Every three years Scotland's drug strategy will be subject to evaluation to ensure that it is achieving the best possible results. | |
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